Advice for newbie

[RossW]

Hi all

Being retired a few years ago I got into photography but have no "eye" for landscape work.

Being ex Airforce with an interest in aircraft a month ago decided to concentrate mainly on aviation photography and hence the questions.


What do you take photos of. I read in posts where people have thousands of photos. Do you take photos of anything that flys, looking for that ONE perfect photo or
do you make spotting a hobby as well as the photography e.g. photos of one type of plane, or photos of aircraft from one airline company, Qantas for example or one aircraft make, boeing, airbus etc. Or is there any other theme I could go with. I would like to take photos of both Military and civilian aircraft.

Thanks Ross

[pauwelsc]

Hi all

Being retired a few years ago I got into photography but have no "eye" for landscape work.

Being ex Airforce with an interest in aircraft a month ago decided to concentrate mainly on aviation photography and hence the questions.


What do you take photos of. I read in posts where people have thousands of photos. Do you take photos of anything that flys, looking for that ONE perfect photo or
do you make spotting a hobby as well as the photography e.g. photos of one type of plane, or photos of aircraft from one airline company, Qantas for example or one aircraft make, boeing, airbus etc. Or is there any other theme I could go with. I would like to take photos of both Military and civilian aircraft.

Thanks Ross

Spotting should always be a hobby at first It really depends on the person, you have to decide for yourself wether you want to take pictures from one manufacturer or one airline. In my case, I just take pictures of each aircraft I see at the airport military or civilian but I know some people rather prefer military aviation over civil.
Just go spotting once to see how it goes and you will see what you like the most by that time, I think that's all I can say.

Kind regards!

[Alex - Spot-This !]

When I started, I first spent a lot of time on the forums and watching tutorials videos. That did help me a lot. I was shooting every weekend and would upload 30-40 pics/session.
But those days are gone, I've totally lost interest in collecting regs to get complete fleets and so on. Nowadays I would only go out if the weather is good and I would mostly look for nice shots, with a cool background and I also try to avoid as much as I can the crowded spots.
I love to walk and search for new angles and spots. Very often while driving to the airport I already have the pic I want to do in mind. Then it's not always a success but well, it's part of the hobby !!

I would say the most important is that you take pics to have fun !!! Uploading and getting pics accepted is a nice challenge but never let it ruin your enthusiasm

Regards and welcome to JP

Alex

[mahagonny]

Hi RossW.
First of all, I'm happy for you to be retired
I can tell you my experience. I started following my brother and now we are two of the same family. We photograph indifferently civil or military aircraft. I love being outdoors so I do spotting and I'm outdoors.
I'm in a small airport so it takes a lot of patience to photograph. But passion is not an obstacle for this.
There are small satisfactions when photographing a new livery or a new plane or if you can photograph a new register.
I can advise you to tell you to photograph everything; over time you can decide what you like best.
Greetings and great shots